If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people - their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties - someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad; if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."
- John F. Kennedy

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Not Good for the Bobbies

While the U.K. is not the safest country in the world it has always seemed to me to be much more so than the U.S. They have their crime but it doesn't seem to be on every corner as it does here in the U.S. That is apparently going to change pretty soon if the British Conservatives get their way. Note also that British Conservatives are mild mannered chaps compared to our teabagger GOP types of today. One might even consider them a 'liberal Republican' in the U.S. even if there is no such thing today. The across the board 25% budget cuts in the UK will go way too far and there's strong reason to believe the extreme actions will trigger a double dip recession and, of course, increased crime.

The head of the Police Federation today said "a touch of ideology" and bad advice to government from thinktanks had left the police service facing cuts that could leave up to 40,000 officers out of a job.

Paul McKeever, the federation's chairman, warned that some forces would be "devastated" and said the proposed cuts would leave the public less safe.

He said the most vulnerable in society would be worst hit, adding: "It is likely that crime levels will go up."

A lot of people don't realize that the British Bobbies were the first professional police force in the world and were founded by Robert Peel in 1829. They were the model for police forces around the world. It is a shame to see them savaged this way and it will be really too bad for the everyday Brit who will suffer the increased crime. Full disclosure: I have a good friend who is a police officer in the UK. She is smart, dedicated and truly professional and while I don't know if she will be affected it would be a shame for the people of Britain to lose such people.